KEEP BUANA (Rise of Darkness)

Envoys

Meanwhile, in one of the other parts of the Lamahtang kingdom, precisely at the foot of Seguntang hill, a black-robed man with gray hair looks restless. Many times he paced back and forth in the hall of the padepokan.

He was Mpu Jangger, a so-called heretic ascetic and a few days ago led about nine hundred warriors in a black-flow coalition to attack the Golden Sun College. Mpu Jangger is a master swordsman who comes from the island of Padi Perak, another island from the Dipantara archipelago.

This heretic hermit himself is one of the most powerful elders of the Segoro Geni temple on Pulau Padi Perak. He came by bringing about three hundred warriors from Segoro Geni to this Great Golden Island from a total of about a thousand more disciples and teachers of the people of the black stream. His arrival was certainly on the orders of the leader of the padepokan, Ki Bonto Geni.

Currently this old man was in the Demon Hair Padepokan, one of the black flow groups of coalition members who were involved in the attack on the Golden Sun. Devil Hair was among the strongest and most mysterious black stream colleges known so far in the Great Gold island region. Their number was actually not much, only about two hundred warriors. That number already included the teachers, elders and disciples within. But in the martial world, sometimes numbers are not very important.

This small and mysterious padepokan is very feared even by the kingdom though. Clashes between Royal Soldiers and the Swordsman of the Demon Hair often occur because they are always masterminding various crimes and murders. However, defeat was always on the side of the royal soldiers when there was a physical clash. One of the royal senopati had even fallen at the hands of this group. But so far, the government does not dare to take decisive action to crush it.

Mru Jangger is waiting for a messenger. But that day, not the messenger he was waiting for came but the figure of an old man with white hair but stout.

The old man was seen walking staggered after his feet landed in the courtyard of the hall, carrying a sword with a black blade. Apparently, he is the Devil's Coral. The sword he carried was none other than Gentayu's Satam sword. The Demon Coral instantly collapsed the moment it arrived at the entrance to the hall. This was surprising to Mpu Jangger who recognized the Devil's Coral as a living legend of the black stream because all over the Great Gold island he should be invincible.

“Hah? What happened to you, uncle Karang?” Mpu Jangger immediately jumped up to catch the body of the Demon Coral before falling to the ground.

The Devil's Coral did not answer. He only signaled with a flick of his hand to be left to sit on the floor of the hall. To be precise, assisted sitting because his condition does not allow him to stand.

Shortly after, the other warriors from the alliance army and the Demon Hair Elders immediately arrived. They were startled, not expecting a figure as strong as the Demon Coral to return in such a miserable condition.

Not many knew, even among the black swordsmen members of his own coalition that the Devil's Coral was part of the Devil's Hair Pads. In fact he was one of the oldest and strongest elders in this Demon Hair college. Even Isu mentions that the Devil's own Reef who founded this misguided college after the disappearance of himself from the martial world and is considered dead. But of course this issue is not true, because the age of the Devil Hair itself is much older than the Devil's Coral.

The eyes of Mpu Jangger and some swordsmen in the hall were immediately fixed on the sword that the Demon Coral carried.It seems, the sword is not foreign to him.

“Is... is this the sword of the old man of Brajawana?” Mpu Jangger asked curiously, representing the other warriors present in the place.

“A boy??”

The shock of all the warriors seemed to be visible on their faces. Their mouths gawked in disbelief at what they heard. If only faced with the disciple Ki Brajavana the Golden Sun Warrior, is not the power of the Devil's Coral much higher even than the Golden Sun Swordsman himself?

“I underestimated it.” The Devil's Coral answered briefly the astonishment of all the warriors there. But that answer does not seem to be satisfactory for them.

“Not, supposed uncle teacher...” Another swordsman in his 50s who seemed to be an important person in the parapet was about to ask something, but he immediately broke his intention when he saw the displeased expression of the old man who was now sitting in a corner with his back leaning against the round bamboo wall in the hall.

Uncle master is the designation of some Demon Hair elders for the Demon Coral. Some of the elders were indeed former disciples of the Demon Coral before, so they still called him a teacher. There were only two people from the six elders who were not disciples of the Demon Coral. The age of the Devil's Coral which is estimated to be more than 200 years certainly makes it the oldest swordsman in this place.

“Iya. I did go to chase after the missing seal. At first, I was sure that the radiance of his energy was around Sei Asin City. I went there, and found out that the person I thought was the seal bearer was injured. I looked for him in every corner of the city, and found him being cared for by a physician of the Huang people as well. Unfortunately, I lost him. Then I actually met the person who I thought was the seal bearer in a small village called Air Ketuan, but the radiance of the seal energy was not on him. I killed him and he really wasn't the bearer of the seal. It seems, the information we received was wrong!” The Devil's Coral explains his journey. Of course the figure referred to as ‘alguably’ seal bearer is Xie Shou, the elder of the Red Dragon.

The Devil's Coral did not mention his battle with Gentayu at all. He thought it was not important to tell. To him, Gentayu just happened to be a little bully on his way to finding the seal in question. The only important thing from Gentayu was that he was the first person to successfully wound the Demon Coral on this Great Golden Island. The rest is not important. Moreover, the Devil Coral itself thought that Gentayu had died at this time.

“Three of our students who were harvesting in Air Katuan village died in that village. They died at the hands of the Green Bamboo people. In addition, the troops that had been formed were also successfully annihilated by Green Bamboo. Apparently the weak group started to want to show its fangs. Too bad I failed to kill two of their elders because of my injuries.” The Devil's Coral is back to telling stories.

The three students in question are the controllers of ‘hantu’ who were successfully paralyzed in the village of Karang Ketuan by Gentayu, Kardak and Winamar. The three of them are carrying out the mission ‘memanen’, a term for murder that intends to create an army of the undead. Really really lost!

Shortly after some discussion of some other white schools perceived as a threat, a horseman dressed as a learned man was seen from a distance and slowly approached. Apparently, he was the envoy who was eagerly awaited by Mpu Jangger. This envoy was seen twitching his forehead when he found the quite crowded hall. He paused for a moment in the courtyard of the hall. After Mpu Jangger met him, then this messenger entered the hall padepokan.

As soon as this messenger was about to enter the hall, Mpu jangger gestured to all the warriors in the hall to leave the two of them, except for the Devil's Coral and a black-clothed man with a red kala on his back.

The envoy came in and saluted the three. Because the Devil's corals were sitting on the floor with their backs against the bamboo wall, the messenger, Mpu Jangger and Kala Merah's representative also sat on the floor. They take a circular sitting position. The messenger then took out a roll of palm leaves from behind his clothes, along with five bags or coffers containing large quantities of gold pieces in them.